Hey y’all. The Museum of Pizza is a real thing, and if you know anything about me, you know I LOVE pizza. So I had to check this out. Originally when I signed up for the tickets last month, it said “secret location” on the Eventbrite page. I was amused and assumed they were using that to create the hype, especially since it was only open for 2 weeks in October (currently it’s extended to Nov.) On the day of the event (Sunday, Oct 28th) I got an email from Eventbrite with the address - the William Vale hotel in Williamsburg. I should have figured something like this would be there. LOL

Anyway, GDubs and I headed over on Sunday a little late for our 3 pm time slot, slightly hungover from the awesome Halloween party the night before, but they still scanned our tickets and let us in with the 3:30 group. While you wait you get a slice to start your experience. The beginning slice was provided by the Neopolitan Express food truck across the street. It was delicious and a great way to start the visit. MoPi is put on by Nameless Network, and they have different interactive areas of the exhibit. There’s an intro to the history of pizza before you head on to the gallery and then the interactive areas, including a short movie section - complete with bean bag chairs and popcorn. They also have “pizza maps” with the pizza spots in the area and have discounts set up with those places, which I thought was cool. You could do your own pizza tour after the exhibit.

Cheese Cave

Pizza Compact

Totino Heaven

Inside the Totino

Spotted: Flavor God Pizza seasoning

Once you pass the first section about the history of pizza, the rest is at your own pace. The gallery did get a little crowded, but the other areas were more open and not as busy. Some rooms were a sensory overload (looking at you black room!) but for the most part weren’t too interactive. The “cheese cave” with its melted mozzarella hanging from the ceiling looked a little X rated if you know what I mean… The DiGiorno play area was cute, but it felt more geared towards kids with the bean bag toss and crawl tube. The Totino’s giant pizza roll was kind of annoying to get in and of, but interesting to see. There were plenty of staff members around to help guide you through, and the exhibits didn’t really warrant any deep explanations. At the end you grab another slice and can go to a “pizza confessional” to end it off. The ending slice of pizza was from Williamsburg Pizza and was not the best, especially for an acclaimed pizza museum. Quite a few people around us voiced similar thoughts. Why have all this flair for the ending pizza, the one to make an impression, is so shitty?

Overall it was fun, but it felt short. You can go through the whole thing in under an hour. We did it in under 30. It was cool to see, and it was pizza’d out, but the quality of actual pizza served was meh. If they had fixed that second slice, it could be redeemable.